Protrusion The Last Suppuration Review
Protrusion
The Last Suppuration
Extremely Rotten/Unholy Domain
2026
Few things make me happier the last 2-3 years than the abundance of younger bands taking the golden age of death metal (1990-1999) sounds and putting their unique spins on it, sometimes combining genres with it (most notably modern hardcore), strictly being influenced by it, or simply being full-blown love letters to the old school. Lafayette, Indiana newcomers Protrusion fall in the latter category, and today we are examining the sheer weight of their debut 10-song full-length, The Last Suppuration.
Protrusion’s individual members are no strangers to the brutal death metal underground, as they contain members from some of the style’s heaviest hitters. Within their ranks are current and former members of Gorgasm, Sarcophagy, Human Filleted, and Found Hanging, so they know a thing or two about creating extremity. Their sound is easy to pinpoint, as it sounds like it came straight out of Tampa’s Morrisound Studios, was produced by Scott Burns, bearing the old R⚡C Records logo and with Dan Seagrave (cult underground artist Jon Zig actually did this one) cover art. This is death metal by way of 91’ and 92’, and they make no apologies for it. The production is murky (in the best way), bottom heavy, chunky, and full of creepy atmospherics. Despite the old school aesthetics and soundscapes, every instrument can be heard clearly, and nothing is fighting for space, a benefit of modern recording techniques marrying with old school SOUNDS. That's an important distinction.
The whole thing starts off with some acoustic guitars/voice samples and then proceeds to blast our heads off with the force of “Confined to Anguish.” Vocally, we are treated to the DEEP gurgling growls reminiscent of Frank Mullen (former Suffocation front man), then shifts into churning, chugging pinch harmonic-laden grooves and reverb-drenched mournful creepy leads atop double bass galloping and time signature changes. That's how you lead off an album! Next, classically tinged piano begins “Morbid Mortality,” and we are flung across the room violently with more of the same from the opener, except this track seems to plod a bit more at a foreboding mid-paced nod, then there are more Luc Lemay/Rick Rozz inspired leads and tremolo-picked breaks in the action. What struck me about this tune is that it also includes horror movie-esque keyboards that are straight out of the Nocturnus playbook, and it makes me happy to see them get a tip of the hat, because back in the day they were and are truly groundbreaking. Crushing chugs and double kicks follow on “Exhumer's Romance,” and here they also throw in some doom elements and modulated clean guitars for extra despair. “Accursed Skin” is led by a busy bass intro and a thrashier pace and those ungodly low growls. “Boiled at Birth” is truly a highlight, as it merges techy parts, swirling bass lines, and more intensity by way of d-beats and blasting. The minor key leads and dive bombs only aid in the mood before they close things out with a walking single-note riff as the song ends with “help me!” grunts and the sounds of boiling water, truly gruesome! It's important to note that these are not short songs, with each one averaging four to five and half minutes, so this is truly an album. A collection of songs meant to be enjoyed as a whole and experienced in one setting. I realize those with short attention spans may need to tackle a few songs at a time, but however you consume it, give the entire thing a spin, even in sections. Other notable moments are the ferocious “Scorned Vengeance,” the creeptastic doom/guitarmonies of the title track, and the church bell drone/intro/dirge of the closing track “Anthropophilic Anomaly.”
And there we have it. Protrusion has crafted a fifty-minute rager that, while rooted firmly in the past, has enough twists, turns, and utter brutality to keep fans of the old and the new interested. I mentioned at the onset of this writing that there are a plethora of bands doing the “old school death metal” thing, but few, if any, sound like a bloody and gore-soaked time capsule and as exciting as these guys. If you dig the days of discovering bands via Metal Maniacs magazine, deciding to drop coin on a record simply because of the cover art/record label it was on, or bought most of your metal via mail order and DIY labels you read about or saw ads for in the aforementioned rag, then you have probably found your favorite death metal album of 2026 so far. I know I have…
RIYL - early Gorguts, Suffocation, Internal Bleeding, Nocturnus, Broken Hope, Lividity
~TB